Wow, you guys are really going to town here. Not sure if it's been mentioned yet but the shifter arm does not like being bent more then once. If you do decide to bend it you will need to heat it up. But, if you have to have more clearance there is a much simpler way. Just add one or two washers behind the main mounting bracket where it bolts to the middle gear cover. The linkage has swivels and will handle the increased angle just fine. No grinding and messing around of any kind.
Sean Morley
Yup!! Gettin' pretty far into the weeds here. no doubt!
Just one more idea..........leave the shifter where it is and move the motor to the right! :rofl_200::rofl_200::rofl_200: